The Quirkless King and Co
by Livvylondinium
Summary: One day, Nico di Angelo arrives in the city, sore and exhausted. He spends the following weeks recovering his strength and unknowingly building a name for himself in the news. Just as he's about to leave, a situation arises and he needs the help of a certain green-haired boy to defeat it. (plus additional stories: Wanted: Cyclone, Wireless Windup)
1. The Quirkless King

This was definitely not where he had aimed to get out. Definitely not a dark alleyway filled with bags of rubbish. He lifted his hands to his lips and felt sticky liquid flecked over them. Certainly something wrong here.  
A small girl ran past him clutching her bag to her chest as she hopped over the bottles strewn across the alley. Nico only glanced at her strangely as she dashed by until he heard an angry echo ringing out from around the corner.  
"Don't think you can get away from me you little-" The man rounded the corner inhumanly fast and quickly approached.  
"Identifying language... Japanese." The interpreter's female voice buzzed in his ear and the teen hummed slightly. Nico made a quick decision and shot out his hand to grab the man by his collar as he was about to run past. There was a short choking noise as the front of the man's collar dug into his neck before Nico pulled him off the ground.

The criminal was about to shout at him for interrupting his little chase before he saw the cold glare that Nico was giving him. Without saying a word he kneed the man in the stomach before punching him in the jaw and dropping the unconscious body into one of the heaps of plastic bags.

Dusting off his hands, he noticed the handbag that the girl had been carrying a few meters away from him. He picked it up and inspected it. Definitely a bit girly but he could imagine it being something Bianca would have enjoyed. Quickly pushing that thought aside, he called out,

"Hey umm.. girl? You dropped your bag." He noticed her peeping out from behind the corner and he gestured for her to come over to him. When she shook her head he sighed a little. Made sense.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." Nico said, trying to sound as friendly as possible which wasn't all the much in reality. "If you want me to I could throw it to you but I don't know if that would go so well." Thinking about it, he could probably throw it. He'd thrown a spear once before, he guessed, but doubted the girl would want her possessions thrown.  
The girl however shook her head vigorously and rounded the corner, not taking her wide eyes off the teen she was looking at. As soon as she got close enough, he carefully passed her her bag before she wrapped herself around his leg and burst into tears.

Stunned, he stood there while she sniffled.  
"Th- th- thank you m- mister mister.." She trailed off as she calmed down. Nico was guiltily reminded of his younger years when he was as childish as that.

"Di Angelo." He finished for her, trying his best to give a friendly smile though he didn't think he clicked well with younger children.

"Are you a hero mister Di Angelo?" She asked him, her round pink eyes looking into his dark brown ones. Nico pushed aside a momentary thought back to his memories as a child and the campers he had left behind and shrugged off the girls question as a childish fantasy.

"Only if you want me to be. Now, how about I take you out onto the street?"  
The girl nodded, still a little bit shocked as he led her slowly out of the alleyway and onto the pavement. He watched her scurry away quickly, presumably in the direction of her parents and he turned back to try and shadow travel again.

It wasn't long before the shadow travel deposited him in an vacant lot, head spinning. It was very quiet apart from hushed voices that he could hear coming from a broken window.  
Nico quickly vaulted the fence and sneaked into the building. He lightly scaled the steps, making sure to make as little noise as possible, and peered into the dusty room where the two men were conversing. One, the larger by several centimetres in each direct, twirled the blade of a serrated knife in his right hand, bearing down on the other. He was the younger by a large margin and was quaking, backed up against a wall as the murderer approached him. Still standing out of the light, Nico picked up the nearest projectile, the grubby floor providing him with a half empty can of soda, probably long since flat. He tested its weight and launched it towards the criminal. It collided with the man's hand, drawing blood at the knuckle and he dropped his knife in surprise. The weedy adult snatched it up hurriedly, hilt slippery with sticky brown liquid. The murderer however was undeterred. He took a step, injured hand forward to grab the younger's collar.

At this, the ghost king crouched behind the older man and jerked the collar of his jacket backwards. He lost his balance and careened backwards, his bulk crashing through a wall and stunning him completely on the ground.  
Nico turned to the shaking man in the corner and waved him to the door. When he didn't move Nico gestured more vigorously.  
"Come on, run and call the police or something before he gets up again."  
He returned to clarity at this and nodded to the teen before dashing out the building, dropping the knife and fumbling in his pocket for his mobile. Nico watched him scramble around the gate before turning back to the shrouded corner and prepared to travel again muttering "let this work, let this work".

It seemed to be only seconds before he was forcefully thrown out of the shadows and almost right into a shelf of magazines. Nico's chest hurt and he stifled a few painful coughs, assured now that there was something wrong with his Shadow travel.  
He'd been 'gracefully' deposited at the back end of a small convenience store. He heard angry yelling at the front near the exit where he'd assume the cashier would be.  
Nico crept around the side of the shelving and saw a thug of a man seemingly threatening the lankier cashier behind the desk. Not another one. Maybe his shadow travel was doing this on purpose.  
The cashier spotted him edging around the shelves and his eyes flitted over to Nico for a second. The thug must have seen the look as a sign that the cashier was ignoring him because he slammed his fist down onto the counter as it burst into flames.  
The fire quickly went out but it left a charred circle on the surface of the desk and only smoke wisping off the thug's hand.

"Hurry up and give me the money you dumbass! I know you're hiding it so where is it?!"  
While the man with distracted with his ranting, Nico calmly walked up to him, grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head down onto the table.

He let go of the brute who slumped off the counter and onto the floor, completely dazed and blood running from his nose. While the cashier seemed a bit surprised at what had just happened, Nico merely asked,

"Would you happen to know if there's a money exchanger nearby? Or just someone who's buying gold or jewelry?" He had decided enough was enough with trying to shadow travel today. After all he was tired and hungry.

"Well there's a uh.. small street a few minutes away from here that umm.. buys and sells that sort of thing. Just turn right when you leave a-and just keep going straight." After the man had managed to get that out, Nico turned and left.

Izuku Midoriya and several of his classmates in class 1A sat in the common-room of their dorms after a long day of school. While the others were munching snacks that they had prepared at the table, the green-haired teen was sitting on the sofa, half listening to the news that was playing on tv and half writing in his notebook.

"In recent news," The male news reporter began. "The same hero has been spotted at 3 different crime scenes across the city in the past hour. He managed to quickly disable the villains and stop a robbery, shoplifting and attempted murder" On the screen behind him there was a map displayed with three dots - one to the far north, another to the mid west and the last in the east, close to the academy. There was also a slightly blurry picture, obviously taken on a cell phone, which showed his body but his face was obscured. The female reporter continued,

"The curious thing about this new hero is that no-one can identify him. He has not shown any sign of a quirk, the name he had given, Di Angelo, is not in any school records and he is not registered for a hero license. As of current, police are on the lookout to bring him into custody. Citizens are encouraged to notify the police if you see him."

"No quirk or school records, huh? That's uncommon." Remarked Jirou, who sat at the table with a small plate of crisps.  
Opposite her, Shouto was peeling an orange as he looked over at the screen.

"And no hero license. That's probably the only reason he's getting any coverage for stopping just three villains. Everyone knows better than to try and be a hero without a hero license - you could go to jail for that." He added and Jirou nodded. Iida looked up from his books and said,

"He must have a good reason for it. Now that he's been penned down as someone who's violated the rules, he won't be easily able to apply for school or get a career. Even as part of the 20% who haven't got a quirk, the police won't go easy on him. Or maybe it'll be the opposite. Displaying such a bold attitude is bound to get him support as a hero or sidekick." The others at the table hummed their agreements.  
Meanwhile, Izuku had started muttering again as he scribbled into his book.  
"Mutter So if he's quirkless Mutter Or is he not showing it Mutter No special moves Mutter Mutter Enhanced strength? Mutter Needs a license Mutter Is he foreign? Mutter I have to leave space for extra stuff Mutter Mutter." He muttered to himself, already halfway through his sketch of the hero and starting to write notes on the side.

After several weeks of healing up with small portions of ambrosia and nectar, Nico felt that just it was just a few more days before he'd be fully functioning - he was incredibly annoyed already at how long it had taken him to recover.

He ran quickly through the streets, moving fast and trying not to look anyone in the eye in case they recognised him by his face or clothes. Nico's hand hovered over the sword that he had concealed at his belt as he ran but he didn't pull it out yet or he might frighten someone.

People notice my actions more than if I was actually back home in America, he realizes as he thinks back to the criminals he'd come across and taken out in the past few weeks. Like there's no mist. But people don't panic at all, just stop and watch like they see that everyday. I'd better be careful if I don't want to get picked up by authorities.

He was dashing after a sentient stream of water that flowed just in front of him. In its current a wet set of clothes drifted as well as hoards of gold rings, silver necklaces and gems. The cold water splashed on passerby shoes and trousers and up ahead the crowd on the shopping street parted. As he passed, a couple whoops and camera clicks where sent his way.

At the end of the high street, he ran into a cordoned off area and skidded to a stop sending a stray stone skittering. A line of strangely costumed adults stood behind a bright barrier of light that sizzled the water as it tried to pass. The water changed shape bending upwards, its centre swirling like a whirlpool spinning the rings around. The soaked shorts and shirt surfaced around the edges of the form which was shaping back into a broad-shouldered man.

Nico stood with his feet slightly apart and tried to concentrate on manipulating the riches inside. He wasn't nearly as good as his half-sister and felt like a fool staring holes into the criminals back.  
"Mr Nico di Angelo~!" A series of girly squeals called out behind him and caught the attention of the villain.

Mizuki Gogyou had expected no resistance in robbing an old gold and jewellery seller in the corner of the small commercial centre. However, Nico di Angelo had arrived at the shop door mere moments after the robber had left, with enough time to pursue the criminal whose pockets and body were heavy with riches. He looked at the child in hatred at his ruined plan.

The ghost king noticed the slow turning motion and the jostling of the jewellery and thought fast.  
"Hey, kid!" One of the adults, a woman wearing a modified bike helmet, yelled. "Leave him to us!" However, the towering whirlpool was storming towards Nico. He turned his attention to one his other weaker skills that he had spent some time recently practising.  
The ground under Mizuki's feet and even the surrounding began to warp. Gaps between pavement slabs widened and mud and rock began to rise upwards. It pooled like a thick cloud in the water, spreading up between his toes, through his calves and thighs. As it reached his stomach, Mizuki lifted his shirt and ran a watery hand through it. It was an attempt to slow the mud's rise but only swished the dirt faster, upwards into his chest, causing him to cough wetly (not that that's saying much when his entire breathing system is made of water anyway).  
He tried to step away from the rising ground but found his body almost rigid with the weight. Nico ceased his focus and the adults, while not quite linking Nico to what had transpired, sensed that the event was over and took the opportunity to approach Mizuki and apprehend him. Di Angelo took that same opportunity to jump onto a window ledge of a nearby building and use the pipes to scale the side. He passed a couple standing at the window, the young woman excitedly filming him horizontally on her mobile. He humorously sent them a two-finger salute before scrambling up the rest of the pipe's length.

Kagami Fukusho was lounging on the adjacent rooftop when he spotted the dark haired boy pull himself into the roof. Kagami worked a relatively simple life for a quirk-era man - the twenty five year old had spent most of his high school and adult life at the computer, coding games. His current project involved some research on his own part about some of the ancient civilisations and it was giving him a throbbing headache. From his plastic fold-out chair he looked up at the stars and chewed the sticky gum he seemed to be addicted to.  
Upon sighting the teen, he straightened up and turned his body to match his orientation before activating his quirk. Kagami's quirk 'mirror' was by no means a practical quirk. It gave him the ability to stay at the exact distance from the target without fail and copy their movement perfectly while only tiring the target. As a child he had never found good use for it - it always resulted in crashing into walls or falling into ditches and Kagami had realised at an early age it wasn't exactly hero-worthy and had given up quickly on the dream most people followed.  
In this case, he was merely bored. He figured if he was about to fall over somewhere he could just disable the effect. He vaguely recognised the figure and was racking his brains to figure it out when a swirling, sickening blackness consumed him.

He lurched forward at the destination still copying Nico, who was doing such because of the unexpected strain of carrying an extra passenger. Kagami quickly disabled his quirk to avoid falling face-first into the road but still clanged his head against a metal stop sign. Di Angelo turned to the noise but in the twilight, he couldn't see very far along the residential street. He shrugged and stepped forward into the light by the door and swung it open as he had left it entirely unlocked.  
Catching the boy basked in full light the disorientated programmer recognised Di Angelo's face from the Tv and online videos he had been watching. He had been a mix of jealous and proud towards the young man who seemed to be able to achieve a goal Kagami himself had given up on long ago.  
As Nico retreated inside the house, Kagami pulled out his phone and pushed in three digits.  
"Hello? Yes, I believe I have some information on Nico di Angelo..."

Nico was on his way back to the empty apartment he had found. To his knowledge, no-one knew he was in there and he was careful not to leave behind any sort of trail so he felt confident as he put down his near-empty bag in the hallway and waltzed into the still dark living space. Perhaps his fight with Mizuki the previous day had left him tired and more relaxed than normal because he didn't notice the other presences in the room until it was flooded with light, blinding him. Darn it.

As his other shadows in the room fled behind the big showroom lights, the only ones that stayed were quivering beneath his feet and he concentrated on moving it over his sword to keep it concealed, since he couldn't travel away with such a small shadow. With all the bright lights he could see the people who had trapped him but one of them called out,  
"Don't move or we'll shoot. We only want to.." but by that time Nico had tuned out and was trying to get his eyes adjusted to the bright lights. Just as he was lifting his hand up to shield his eyes, he heard a click and felt a stinging sensation in the back of his hand. Looking at it, he saw a little plastic capsule sticking out. Some nervous, probably new recruit had jumped the gun and had fired a dart at him. Nico hastily pulled it out and sent it clattering on the floor before sending a glare in the direction it came from. After a few second of silence, he called out,

"So is anyone going to do anything? I'm getting tired standing around." A reply came quickly.  
"We'd like you to answer our questions, di Angelo. Then we'll see about taking you into custody."  
Nico wasn't too impressed with that answer but gestured for them to continue.  
"Go ahead, shoot." No-one said anything for another few silent seconds and he realised that that probably wasn't the best thing to say in a situation where there were armed men who thought he was dangerous. Perhaps the dart has injected him with something that was making his brain slow.

"Oh. It's just something we say where I'm from. I mean, go ahead and ask me the questions. And give me something to sit on." Soon they threw him an empty cardboard box and the questioner started and Nico could just make his silhouette out behind the lights.

"What is your name and date of birth?" He asked flatly.

"Nico di Angelo and January 28th, 1924." The questioner huffed disbelievingly and scribbled down something in his notebook but didn't comment. Nico had been juggling the idea of saying his real birthday against his realistic birthday in the 90s and was visibly startled by the investigator's lack of reaction.

"And your place of birth?"

"Italy." Nico said before adding, "but I haven't lived there for a while." The questioner hummed at this and noted it down. He was surprised at the amount of co-operation from di Angelo after they had pegged him as a law breaker. Perhaps he hadn't seen the news coverage of himself in the newspaper, online or on tv. He'd been able to gain a terrifying amount of support from the population over the past few weeks.

"You have yet to show your quirk and we need it down on record. Please show us or describe it to me." Nico had no idea what the questioner was talking about. Quirk? What was that? Is it an object?  
It dawned on him slowly as he thought back to when he had first come here and noticed the strange things about all the criminals he knocked out. So is that what it was - superhuman powers. Apparently they were so common this country had given the abilities a name. At least they hadn't named them after a soft drink or something stupid like that.

"Oh. I don't have one." Nico said simply, sidestepping the question, and the man nodded as if he had expected that.

"And where did you get your costume? There's no record of your design or modification at the committee which is suspicious." The questioner continued and Nico could see him pointing at his jacket and the earphone sticking out of his right ear. Nico was a bit confused at that.

"My costume? Do you mean my clothes? I wear them all the time. I just got them from a regular shop." The man watching him just scribbled that down.

"And finally, your hero license. You aren't registered in the system under Di Angelo or any similar name. You should know that trying to combat crime under the guise of a hero is illegal." Nico was pretty miffed - it was like he was travelling through dimensions than just across the globe. It wasn't his fault his shadow travel took him to random places with weird rules just because he didn't tell it a particular place to go. Or maybe it was his fault.

"Well, actually, I didn't know that. I didn't even know there were heroes or hero licenses. I've certainly not seen many people, 'hero' or not, stepping in to do something significant and help others." He exclaimed, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Even if you weren't aware, it's still a crime and we need to detain you and bring you into custody. The normal sentence for someone like you who has intervened with many situations as you have is two years but as a foreigner, we can move that down to a minimum of 18 months." The man talking to Nico said before nodding to his right. A separate, rougher voice spoke up,  
"Team Tiger, team wolf move in. Team cub stays on alert. Go."  
Seeing soldiers move out of the shadows and into the light of the floodlights made Nico stand up, his heel catching on the box and bringing it up by an inch and revealing an empty inside shrouded in shadow. Nico noticed this and smiled widely. Finally, an escape route.

"I'm sorry guys but I have places to go and times to be there so I'll see you all later." He took a moment to take in the questioners confused face before shoving his foot into the box and disintegrating into shadows.

Luckily for him, Nico managed to travel to roughly where he wanted to go - a near-empty street away from the centre of town where he wouldn't be disturbed by enquiring police officers. He quickly realised that his bag had been left at the house with the majority of his healing food and drink. Nico wasn't too concerned about losing that stash - he still had plenty tucked into his inside jacket pockets which would last him. It was just the thought of someone taking that bag and possibly eating the stuff in there. Then he reasoned that the authorities wouldn't eat something suspicious and let that thought leave his mind.  
He quickly crept into one of the empty houses and, feeling tired, lay himself down for a nap.

The following day he decided to leave, but not before replacing his backpack. So he travelled himself over to a small store, reasoning that they'd have some small backpacks in stock. He soon picked a small, dark grey bag, slung it over one shoulder and wandered over to the news racks. Much like the last place he'd visited, most of it was unreadable apart from a few brand names that he recognised written in English. Nico sighed. The 'interpreter' worked well enough for speaking and listening but he felt the Hephaestus cabin should move quickly to make something that could help him read before he got himself into trouble.

He had started to turn away when he noticed a picture on the front of one of the newspapers about mid-level. It was a small picture of his face, probably taken from the ambush the previous night, in the top right-hand corner of the front page with the English words "Di Angelo" written above and smaller letters below, probably indicating to turn to an inside page.  
Nico picked up the paper and scanned through the pages slowly, just about noticing a shorter teen strolling up beside him and picked up a copy of the same newspaper. He had an explosion of dark green hair and seemed overly excited as soon as he saw Nico's face on the cover and he flicked right to the main article.

Nico peered over as the excited kid unconsciously began to mutter the text out loud.

"Di Angelo, the apparently quirkless, licenseless hero, was apprehended by police forces and questioned before managing to escape.  
After a tip-off from an anonymous citizen, three teams of officers, as well as an investigator, intercepted Di Angelo late last night at the abandoned building where he was staying.  
Police questioned him for 15 minutes, but before they could take him into custody, he vanished. This fact has led some to believe that Di Angelo does, in fact, have a quirk, despite his claim that he does not. However, if it is indeed a teleportation quirk, then it is questionable that he only vanished after the questioning.  
His current location is not yet determined and any information on him should be reported to the police."

Underneath that story, there was another photo taken during the questioning. It showed most of him as he stood, from the knee upwards, and next to it was written some more words - seemingly ordered like a fact file. The green-haired boy continued reading through the article.

"Full name: Nico di Angelo. Date of Birth: Pre-Warring era birth records confirm it as 1924, however, his apparent age is 15. Quirk: Claims to be quirkless but has been suspected of having a teleportation quirk or accomplices with such. Has no recorded living relatives or place of residence." After reading the article the boy lapsed into silence and Nico folded up the newspaper he was holding and putting it back on the rack.  
"Some story, right?" He joking asked the kid who only nodded in agreement, obviously distracted. He turned to the counter in order to pay for his Items when Izuku pulled himself out of his thoughts to look at the man who'd talked to him.  
"Ah sorry! I was distracted, what did you say?" The older teen turned back around and smiled slightly down at him.  
"Well... Ah, nevermind." Izuku just nodded and turned back the article on Nico di Angelo. Then back to the retreating form and back to the picture of Nico looking out at him from the middle of the page. Dark jacket. Dark hair. Dark eyes.  
Izuku quickly shoved the newspaper under his arm and rushed over to Nico who was dealing out coins into the counter.  
"Excuse me! Are you Nico di Angelo? Like, the one in the news?" Nico looked over at the kid.  
"Yeah, I guess. Who's asking?" Izuku was a little surprised by Nico's straightforwardness.  
"Oh, I'm Izuku, a first-year at Yuuei academy."  
Nico just nodded at turned back to counting his coins on the counter.  
"Well, Nico." Izuku started, trying to recatch the older boy's attention, "I've been wanting to ask-" Any further words were drowned out by an ear-piercing siren that rang for a long 5 seconds. Once the ringing in Nico's ears vanished he ran to the door, closely followed by Izuku, as another alarm rang out.  
"A villain has been spotted roaming around the close vicinity. We urge you all the return to and stay in your homes."  
The voice screeched and Nico grimaced.  
"Does that happen often?" He asked Izuku, turning around to face him. He shook head.  
"Must be pretty bad for there to be an alarm." Nico sprinted through the doors and out into the deserted street with Izuku following close behind.  
"I was just about to leave the country but I guess I'll have to get rid of this monster first." He told his green-haired companion while he adjusted the Interpreter.  
"Wait! Sir! You left your coins on the counter!" Called the shopkeeper from the inside of the shop.

"It's to pay for the bag and the newspaper." Nico called back as he launched himself down the road. "Keep the change."

The shopkeeper watched the pair leave, scratching his head.

"So Mr di Angelo... where are we going?" Yelled Izuku as he chased after the tall dark runner in front of him. Nico was not as out of breath and quickly replied,  
"Obviously we're going to where the crime is. And call me Nico, it's less of a mouthful."  
"Alright, Mr Nico." Called out Izuku to him, grinning a little at the miffed look that got thrown his way.

"Are you really over 300 years old? That's even before quirks were found." He continued as they rounded a corner.  
"Depends on who you ask." He replied simply, then quickly held up a hand to quiet him as he spotted the cause of the problem up ahead.

The green haired boy didn't seem to get the hint. "Depends-"  
Nico let out an irritated hiss and roughly pushed his hand against the boy's mouth, stunning him to silence.  
"Can't you see we have to be quiet?" he ground out and Izuku sent him an apologetic look.  
Around the edge, a small pack of red-headed giggling women stood surrounding a pair of young teens splayed out on the ground. Empousai.  
Guess no matter where you'll go, you'll always find trouble.  
The tallest stood on the back of one teen who groaned as a golden heel pierced his back. The other, a curly-haired boy, tried to scramble backwards, clutching at the stump of his elbow which was bleeding heavily. The shortest empousa held the dismembered arm up to her mouth, gnawing at the skin while her partners laughed. The woman on her right pulled off a few fingers from the hand and began munching loudly, her sharp teeth showing white against the red of blood.  
Farther down the line of houses were another pair of empousai, dragging unconscious (or possibly dead) men towards a large tarp lined with a drawstring.

A few comments drifted up towards Nico's ears -  
"This one's flesh is really tender"  
"Yeah and I like curly-head's tangy taste"  
"No body hair really makes it worth killing the young ones"

Nico tried to peer through the mist the see what the terrified mortal would be seeing but was surprised to see there was next to no change.  
Izuku standing slightly to the right of Nico tried to read the concentration and calculating expression on the ghost king's face. Nico turned back to him and looked him once over. Midoriya's loose shirt and shorts didn't show off much and in Nico's eyes, he seemed a little wiry.  
He talked to Izuku in a hushed tone,  
"Do you think you can think for yourself?"  
"Yes, why?" Came the reply.  
"And you're fit enough to do some running and carrying?"  
"Huh? Of course. Now tell me why."  
"Hey. Have you saved someone before?"  
"Mr Di Angelo. I go to Yuuei academy to study this. The hero academy. Saving people is what I want to do for the rest of my life."  
Nico looked away slightly and muttered what sounded close to -so they really are heroes then- before turning back to the shorter teen and gesturing him to step closer to the corner.  
Izuku glanced down the street and spotted the empousai as well. He almost leapt into action immediately but was pulled back by a firm grip on his shirt collar.  
"I'll let you go in a second but first, isn't there a law against helping people without a hero license?" Nico stumbled a little at 'hero license' but Izuku only nodded a little sheepishly.  
"Okay, so let me take out the two ladies at the back and then you grab the man in the circle and book it away from here before any cops arrive. There's far too many of them so I'll take out as many as I can before I lead them to back up."  
"I can do that. You'll run across licensed backup really soon, the city is full of heroes." Izuku nodded confidently.  
Nico gave his best encouraging smile (which wasn't saying much) but Izuku still smiled tightly back.  
A quick thumbs up from Nico and then he stepped backwards, melting into the shadows and causing the shorter boy to nearly jump out of his skin.  
Nico reappeared within the shrouded alleyway close to where the distant empousai had been standing. Now they were much closer, only a few metres from where he crouched, busy with their dragging. The ghost king kicked at an empty bottle. The noise immediately attracted the attention of the closest empousa who turned towards the sound. She said something to the other who laughed before she strutting into the darkness of the alleyway. A misjudged step sent a few cans clattering and she tripped toward Nico. He instinctively brought his dagger and with a quick jab to her neck, the empousa disintegrated into a fine gold dust.

"I hope you haven't run off to let me do this job alone!" The empousa called as she stepped into the narrow, rubbish-strewn corridor.

In the darkness, Nico delivered a quick stab to her back and she disappeared with a hint of confusion on her face.  
Deku was pleased to see none of the weird women had noticed their partner's disappearance and he prepped himself for retrieving the boy quickly losing consciousness in the circle.  
Nico appeared from the alley causing several empousai heads to swivel in his direction. He was trying to best intimidate the snarling group, trying a technique he had seen his father use on many occasions in his hall.

He was working on what he remembered by sight but he seemed to have an instinctive grasp of the aura releasing. Izuku at the other end of the road shivered and the women fell silent for a moment. His drawn sword attracted their focus and their leader nodded, smiling widely at the rest of the girls. Her attractive denim shorts displayed not-so-attractive long legs - the grey-brown and bronze swished as she strutted forward towards the shorter teen.  
"Ah, we have a demigod over here in this dimension?" She let out a loud bleating laugh. "I'd say I'm surprised but you are a son of Hades."

She stopped just out of sword reach of the younger keeping her eyes trained on him. A few of the empousai licked their lips at the prospect of demigod meat and inched away from the two unconscious boys. The flash of wild green hair as he picked up both the boys brought a shriek from an empousa whose peripheral vision was still on the two victims. All the empousai turned to the sound, even the leader. The momentary alarm allowed Nico to dash forward and jab towards her neck - she leaned out the way in time to avoid a fatal wound but a deep oozing gash formed at her jawline.  
Selfishly saving her own hide, she flashed away in a blaze of flame, hand up to her face.

One teen under each arm, Izuku wall-jumped between the two sides of a narrow gap between buildings. The first was merely knocked out and coming to with Midoriya's sudden movement. The other was pale and Izuku ripped a strip of his shirt hem to wrap tightly around the wound - it hadn't been a special occasion and the top was old but he still apologised to his mum as he worked on the tourniquet, for the ruined shirt. He adjusted the teen's position in his arms supporting his back and legs before peering over the edge of the roof to check on Nico.

"We'll skin you, son of Hades! Then we'll eat your juicy self alive!" The apparent second-in-command, evident from the matching denim shorts, screeched and the rest of them leapt after her in close pursuit. He briskly swung his sword a few more times piercing one's stomach before jumping backwards and running.

A few minutes later, Nico dashed past some stores and recognised the shop where had knocked out the robber on the first day he had arrived. Izuku following as closely behind as possible without burning out realised that they were nearing UA academy and from his spot on the rooftops he could see some teachers and students milling around in the courtyard. He beelined in that direction, passing over Nico and his pursuers in one bound before dropping down to ground level a dozen metres ahead of the ghost king, trying not to jostle the curly haired boy. He gestured urgently for Nico to follow and they both sprinted off, the taller just behind. Izuku channelled a little more power to his legs and felt the skin blister a little as he stormed ahead of the group for the final stretch.

Nico skidded around a corner placing a hand on the floor to steady himself, scratching a layer of skin off the palm. A quick glance back saw the empousai were close. He guided his focus to the tip of his sword and swung it into the pavement sending a long deep crack snaking across the ground. Most of the empousai sidestepped out the way but one of the slowest tripped, tipping forward into the cavern and knocking her head on a jagged rock. She immediately disintegrated, the pause leaving time for Nico to gain a head start before the empousai turned on him again with renewed vigour.

Midoriya leapt through the gate with the boy in his arms and dashed over to where a disgruntled teacher with a torn white scarf around his neck stood to watch some sparring students. Nico sprinted to do the same and reach their support but just before, he crumpled against an invisible force and was sent careening backwards. His face covered in blood and head spinning, he stumbled towards the wall with his hand out. He gingerly felt at the invisible barrier, each touch sending a stinging sensation up his skin.

Having reached the practice ring, one of his fellow classmates took the unconscious teen off Izuku and began running towards the medical bay. Izuku turned to check Nico was just behind and spotted him bloody-faced with one hand on the UA barrier... He'd forgotten the UA barrier!

Eraserhead turned to him eyebrow raised at Midoriya's blood-stained t-shirt.  
"Midoriya, what are-" Is all he managed to get out before the green haired teen panicked, yelling out,  
"Mr di Angelo!" Di Angelo? Like the quirkless boy from the papers? He thought as he swivelled to the direction that the teen was staring. The teacher spotted him instantly grabbing at the wall with a pack of angry fire-headed women drawing closer.  
"They were murdering men along Hanagawa street. So Nico got them to chase him so he can get them to some heroes. If we don't help, they'll kill him." Midoriya explained shakily. Eraser nodded once and called loudly for the third years across the grounds and the teachers accompanying them.

Nico ignored the painful tingling racing across his fingers as he felt along the wall's surface. It felt like a normal brick wall under his fingertips, depressed lines of cement between each brick and cracked with marks where over time many faces had undoubtedly bashed in. He dug his fingers into the surface and hoisted himself up. He heard the empousai's heavy breathing close by and continued climbing as fast as he could we didn't seem nearly fast enough. The quick empousa who led the pack leapt upwards at the wall, ultimately falling but first scratching a deep line with a sharp nail into the sole of his boots that he could feel had pierced his skin and was slowly pooling blood.

Nico closed his eyes tightly and concentrated on lifting himself up arm over arm, hand over hand. The surface seemed to curve beneath his body and climbing eased. Soon enough, he was at a 45-degree angle and turned his body to lie splayed out on the barrier, breathing heavily. He barely felt the shocks the wall was trying to give his back over his muscle ache and relief. He looked down to see if he could spot anyone taking out the empousai. They were red swirling specks on the ground far below and Nico's heart leapt into his throat. Scrambling up to his feet he felt dizzy and terrified, unable to breathe from fear. A heavy footstep on the invisible surface sent him stumbling backwards and Nico was barely able to register a tiny voice calling up "Calm down Mr di Angelo!" before he began to fall.  
Uraraka Ochako was whistling quietly, eyes peacefully shut, as she swung a shopping bag filled with half-price offers that she had picked up from the corner shop. A few metres from the school gate she heard shouts and opened her eyes to come across a scene of mayhem. Her shopping bag clanked loudly against the pavement.

Women with fire red hair, baring sharp fangs were paired off with what Uraraka recognised as the older students. They were fighting a close battle, sometimes a UA student would retreat to swap out with another or one of the vampire-women would fly backwards, disappearing in a shower of gold dust. Her attention turned to Izuku standing inside the walls of the school and noticed his heavily bruised forelegs. He was yelling frantically at something above her head and she looked up to see what it was.  
In a moment of pure instinct, she activated her quirk and shot upwards. As she neared the body falling towards her, she had a surreal moment of nostalgia and was reminded of one of her first experiences with Izuku when she had caught him in the entrance exam. Uraraka caught the falling teen and after stopping him, began to descend both of them downwards. She recognised the quirkless hero whose exploits had been publicised extensively in the news over the past few weeks and took a moment to look over his crumpled clothes and  
Nico opened his eyes cautiously and glanced at the ground before quickly refocusing on the girl's smiling face. She began to let him go confident he wouldn't fall under the effect of her quirk but he quickly grabbed two fistfuls of her shirt sleeve and gripped tightly. Noticing this brought an embarrassed blush to his saviour's face, he disentangled his fingers and apologised.  
"Don't like heights Mr di Angelo?" She asked politely as they drifted slowly downwards.  
"Nico please." He replied, "I hate them. It's sort of a family thing." She held onto the corner of his jacket collar to calm him and smiled.  
"I'm not a fan of them either - they make me feel sick. Did you read about yourself in the news? You're famous citywide. Not just from that first news story but also that video of you fighting the villain Mizuki."  
"I figured it out after I nearly got arrested yesterday." He smirked. "No, I got it when some girls screamed my name as I was passing last week. I only saw an article when I met this boy Izuku who was reading the newspaper and the story was about me."  
"Oh? You know him? He's in my class."  
"Yeah. It ended up with a whole spiel fighting a pack of man-eating women." They finally touched down and Uraraka reverted the effect of her gravity quirk. Only a few empousai remained and one empousa in a floral dress snarled at him before disappearing into a wall of flame.

"Seems like it's all clear to go now." He spoke aloud to himself, shaking off any remaining tinges of fear. He inspected his palms, the soles were red and the fingertips blackened slightly. He reached into his jacket pocket and broke off a few crumbs of ambrosia, popping them in his mouth and chewing on the soothing taste.

Ochako noticed him turning away towards a shadow-shrouded wall and dashed forward to stop him.  
"Wait di Angelo! You can't leave yet!"  
"Of course I can. Why not?" He looked back over his shoulder, shooting her a wry smile.  
"Well first, are you a time traveller or something? What's it like in the pre-quirk era?" She asked, gesticulating wildly.  
"I'm not a time traveller," Nico reassured. At least I don't think I am right now. "Maybe I'll come back here sometime if you'd like me to?" He was feeling quite grateful to the shorter girl for saving his butt and was quickly running out of ways to repay her.  
"Sure. Deku'll be really grateful if you'd did. We'll make sure together that the police don't get to you if you give us some answers." The interpreter didn't seem to like that word and clicked a little in his ear making him wince.  
"Deku?"  
"Oh, it's just Izuku's nickname."  
"Right." He replied simply as the aforementioned boy neared the pair. Nico also noted the wiry teacher's movement towards the building group and felt a peculiar need to leave briskly. He slightly waved one hand, swivelling around and stepping fully into the wall's darkness. He felt the eager pull of strong shadows at his legs and dived in, willing them to return him back to camp.

\- The end...? -

"Nico di Angelo, the so-called 'quirkless king' has not been spotted in the past three weeks since his disappearance near the prestigious UA Academy where he was spotted by many climbing the UA barrier.  
The internet nicknamed the teen the 'Ghost King', from his pale appearance and historical background that dates his birth to over 90 years before the start of the modern-era.  
The contents of his bag have been determined highly poisonous and have been placed under maximum security at the security centre for further investigation and safe-keeping.  
At the site of the would-be massacre, a 1-metre statue has been funded by the civilians he has saved. A self-defence gym for the quirkless population has been established along the same street by the Urokukichi family whose son lost his left arm in the incident.  
Di Angelo made a sensation for the month-long period he was in the city but it seems his remembrance will last much longer.  
Onto other news..."


	2. Wanted: Cyclone

— Sequel: has a short time skip and is set approximately six months to a year after the events of Quirkless King —

Just as Nico swung his cabin door closed with a solid click, Percy and Leo emerged from the Hephaestus cabin with a long metal tube carved with swirling grooves and packed with gunpowder and coloured paper. Leo hoisted the contraption over one shoulder and turned to return to the bonfire and the source of loud cheering but was stopped by Percy's hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong waterboy?" Leo joked and Percy shot him an amused smile before looking in the direction that the unusual noise had come from.

"Do you think that noise came from Nico's cabin?" He asked and Leo shrugged and replied,

"Maybe he went to get the same as we did."Percy raised one eyebrow.

"We went to get an 'Ultra Mega Party Popper'." He said, lifting his hands into exaggerated quotation marks. "You think he went to get one of those?" Leo dismissively waved over in the direction of the noise with an exaggerated huff, smiling.

"Fine, let's go check on him." He said and set down the creation by his cabin door, careful to keep the delicate end out of the mud, and the pair trotted down the pavement to the cabin door. Swinging it open revealed a dark room, curtains drawn and lit by a shaded lamp on Nico's bedside. The bed sheets were creased inwards to where Nico sat pulling his jacket on his shoulders, a small dark gray bag crammed full of crinkling snacks lazing to one side.He gave a start and a wide eyed look when the door opened before composing himself.

"Hello Percy, Leo." He greeted nodding to each.

"Nico." Leo nodded back, imitating him with a wide grin. That unwound Nico's tight expression into a small smile.

"Where are you off to?" Percy's question brought the grim look back on his face.

"Ah. Well, I was thinking of maybe.. visiting Hazel.. in, you know?" He stumbled over his words and the answer ended up sounding more like a question. Leo frowned,

"But Hazel and the rest are here tonight for the party." In that moment, while Nico froze, Percy placed his hands on the younger's shoulders from behind him, only his firm grip downwards stopping Nico from launching up in surprise.

"Come on Nico, you know you can't avoid joining us in the party conga line this time." Percy exclaimed, gently shifting him side to side while himself, shaking his hips. Leo added himself to the precession kicking out his legs to the chant as they shuffled across the cabin. Percy leaned over Nico shoulder to get into his field of view with a wide grin.

"Just this once, would you like me to let you be second in line instead of first?"

"Perce, if you let me go now I'll be back faster you know." Nico said, prising the older teens fingers off his shoulders. Sensing he was about to leave, Percy grasped at Nico's collar. Jerked abruptly into Nico's shadow travel, Percy himself yanked Leo forward, unbalanced with one leg out at a right angle, still preoccupied with his dance.

They landed from the momentary tumbling sensation in the shadow of a short statue in the middle of a pedestrian street. Nico righted himself easily but the other two attached to him reeled forward - Leo unbalanced, standing on one leg, accidentally pushing Percy forward into the statue who banged his head on the granite surface.

"Right in the middle of that street. Real subtle shadow travel." Nico muttered sarcastically and side stepped to direct his companions attention away. But Leo, pulling himself up of the ground found a hanhold gripping the statues ankle and hauled himself up onto the granite.

"Remind me never to travel with Nico again." He informed the towering figure in front of him. It was only when his vision cleared that he cracked a smile at his own mistake.Also ignoring Nico, Percy circled round to the front of the statue to take a look.

"He's barely taller than you Percy. And that's with the pedestal." Leo joked, sidling up to his right.The small collection of boys drew a few looks and a couple smiles. A pair of young girls, fresh out of class with backpacks and short plaid skirts recognized Nico slouching uncomfortably to one side and begin chattering loudly, pointing and drawing their phones. Those around them followed suit and a small crowd grew around the trio. Nico's ears pricked as he picked up the speech with his Interpreter but the other two demigods only looked confused at the commotion.

"Attracting attention already Percy?" Nico said, pulling a tense, distracted smile that brought rounds of squealing from the girls.

"Must be my smoking hot looks." Leo joked with a wide smile, then perked up as he reached for his belt.

"You know, I've got just the thing for this. The cabin developed this not too long ago to translate speech directly." He explained to Percy and his hand rummaged through the pouch.Needing to get away before they take pictures and spread news, Nico made a move to get out the circle. Mentally apologizing, he roughly yanked Leo forward by the forearm into the mass of bodies, sending a fistful of junk and wires flying from Leo's hand and creating a partition for Nico to pull the older boys through behind him.

"Sorry, Leo," Nico called as Leo drew himself up and jogged behind, before smirking at him. "Was trying to get the crowd to stop, drop and roll out the way." This brought a laugh from Leo despite his limp and he nodded his acceptance of the apology. They ran further along the street, the calls of the passers-by expressing excitement as they waved to the trio. Leo, still limping slightly, shot Nico a confused glance which he didn't catch being in the front of the group.

As they neared the end of the high street, the crowd fell behind them and the people in front were startled by the appearance of three sweaty running teens.They slowed to turn onto the next street, passing a small gym and a bakery store on the corner. It had an English name, in contrast to the foreign shops surrounding it and Leo barely made out the title "Mr. San's Dough" as they blurred by.Two young adults sat at the counter inside and both waved to the demigods as the passed, the younger noticeably lacking an arm from the elbow down.

Nico sent them a tight smile and lifted his hand up in greeting then the trio rounded a second corner quickly and skidded to a halt.

"Okay, here's out of sight. Let's get back then, quick." Nico said, moving to grab onto Percy's shoulder but the older teen pulled the fingers off with a frown. Nico shot him a glare and reached forward again.

"Percy, let's just go back, I don't know this place and I didn't really mean to pull you along anyway since you yanked on my shirt."

"No way neeks. You definitely knew that kid you waved to in that.. bread shop! And that's really weird for 'not knowing this place'."

"Bread shop?" Leo broke in, smiling.

"Shut up! Bakery, whatever!" Percy exclaimed frustrated, with arms up, and Leo grinned behind his hand.

"Don't antagonise him Leo. And Percy, how about I just get you back to the party and I'll go where I was trying to go."

"Nico. You're either explaining this or you're attending the party. You're not going to skip celebrations like this again. Else: I'm gonna sit over there and won't move until you attend. I'll be waiting." Percy finished with a huff and stepped away, crossing the street and sitting on a flower shop ledge with eyes closed and arms defiantly crossed.Nico sighed and shot Leo a look, who merely shrugged and both moved out of the shadow to walk over the oldest in the three.

"Fine percy, I'll g-" Nico started to say, then was abruptly swarmed by the mass of people that had been searching for them earlier.Leo who had been in front was pushed forward by the force of the people and swiveled to see his view of Nico was entirely blocked by a group of shouting citizens. He tried to reach through but was forcibly pushed back by the mass. Leo shoved his hand into his utility belt and had half a mind to scare them off with the infrasound emitter clenched in his hand, or even with just his fire power (even if he felt that would expose him as having unnatural powers), but paused when, from the corner of his eye, he spotted that Percy was no longer in the place he had been previously. Leo stood up straight, eyes searching for Percy's new location but was unable to see where he had gone.Casting one last look in Nico's general direction, Leo started running back towards the statue, eyes searching and voice yelling for the oldest teen the whole time.

Nico meanwhile was sandwiched between an overly perfumed girl holding out a sparkly pen and notebook and a bearded middle aged man in a fedora, pretty much shoving a voice recorder up his nose.

"Hey! Wait a second with the questions, at least let me call my friends over."

The mob paused for a brief moment and let him through, only to find neither of the other two demigods in the places he had last seen them. Nico sighed and turned back to the owl-eyed bunch of fans and reporters.

"Alright then, I'll find them later. What is it you want?"

Percy had huffed, sitting himself down with eyes closed and chin held high. In his mild tantrum he didn't notice the tapping on his shoulder at first, rhythmic but intentioned. He opened his eyes to a sea of people but nobody to his right where he had felt the sensation coming from. Looking up, it wasn't a leaky drain pipe leaking water onto him and he cautiously stood up and moved towards the right to step into the unlit alley.

A shadowed figure sat, hunched, at the end of the alleyway and Percy moved forward, shifting forward into a half-crouch and one hand on Riptide in his pocket.

He kept an eye on the shape as he approached, his eyes only pulled away when he felt his foot stuck to the ground in an awkward skewed position. He spent a long moment trying to pry it off the ground, finally resorting to pulling out his pen and using it as a lever beneath his heel.

Below, and still leaving residue on his sole, was a squashed wad of gum, almost black with the alley's filth and nearly the size of a tennis ball.

"Eww.. really? Who would even chew that much gum?"

His suddenly felt a sharp tingling pain spread across his legs and forearms and his vision turned blurry and dark, a heavy pressing feeling covering the right side of his head.

A lilting voice spoke softly close to his other ear, the words strangely emphasised as though they had been learnt without any reference and, unlike all his experiences so far, speaking in a language that Percy (unlike all his previous experiences here) managed to recognise.

"Ooo this is a level of power I haven't felt in a long time. Perhaps I can use this one for longer before I have to dump him. He might even be a bit like me... This is going to be fun!"

He tried to throw off whatever or whoever was blinding him - his arms were unresponsive and crashing into the alleyway wall only brought stars to his vision and a ringing in his right ear that had been deafened.

As the searing pain continued and the stars in his vision faded to black, the last thing he heard from his left ear was a loud shout of,

"Percyyyyyy...!"

We've got some exciting news for you folks!The Quirkless Hero Nico di Angelo has reappeared, spotted on Hanagawa street as he had been in the Urokukichi case. Unconfirmed sightings had been reported in previous months but the current storm on social media points towards a longer stay and a full case for his previous vigilantism. Tune in to our channel every day at 8pm for further information on this and other related stories.

Breaking news! Another dangerous villain has been identified as the cause of several murder cases across the district. As many victims were injured or killed by asphyxiation and were often soaked in fluid, the police believe he may have a liquid manipulation quirk used to drown his victims. No photographs are available but if you see any suspicious behaviour you are urged to avoid contact and inform the police. Use the name "Cyclone" in reporting for this villain.

In latest news, the attacks by the elusive villain nicknamed "Cyclone" have continued into this week. Reports of an almost identical villain in appearance, maiming victims with a glowing weapon, have been made and some suspect this may be an accomplice or relative of Cyclone, or even the villain himself. If you see the man displayed on the screen now, he is dangerous. Call the police and avoid contact at all costs.

Leo sat on a park bench, slumped with his legs outstretched, fiddling with some scraps of metal, wire, and glass in a roughly circular shape. He held it up to one eye, a grid of thin gold wire meshes across the inner surface, blocking the image at a distance but near-invisible close-up. He searched for something to test the prototype on and spotted a stubble-faced man with wild dark hair that seemed to shine with a sheen of green, exiting a building labeled yata no kagami koubou or as the eyepiece told him, the eight-span mirror studio. He had no idea what it meant and suspected a fault with the translator, if only for the 'eight-span' part, whatever that meant. It was being translated into Greek, but that shouldn't have been an issue. A similarly exhausted 30-year-old looking guy followed, both of them setting off through the park and out of sight.Leo sat back, tugging out some wiring and replacing some chips with new components. He kicked together some twigs together onto the pavement and lit them, to keep himself and his nearby equipment from freezing as the chilly night dragged on.

He'd been searching for Percy and Nico for the first few days but unable to talk to the majority of the local people he had set about recreating the Interpreter. He had lost those that he had been keeping in his pocket during the trio's stampede and he couldn't conjure a functional one from his belt, so he had spent about a week scrounging for the correct machines to break down, eventually forming a newer updated model but it had been in vain. Leo had only swapped on suspicious nature for another. The previously wild foreigner had been replaced by a dirt-smeared, sweaty and unkept native speaker who still turned away self respecting noses. People also seemed protective of information when Leo brought up Nico's name. He sighed heavily and slumped down on the bench.

It was nearing dawn as Leo finished off his prototype, his back bitten by the chilly morning winds but his hands warmed by his work. He finished screwing together the outer metal ring and moved to try his new gadget out as a loud pair of jogging teenagers came into view. He put the gadget onto his cheek and tried to focus through it.

One was blonde, his hair spiked into an explosion that flew at right angles from his head, unflattened even with the pale sheen of sweat that covered his forehead and neck. Leo quietly wondered if it was the work of some powerful hair spray.The other had a much more sober style to match his placid face but instead was equally extravagant in colour, two sides split between a deep crimson and snowy white.

He caught the red eyes of the blonde who then skid to a halt, eyeing the fire burning quietly by Leo's feet. Leo also looked down and the unstable monocle slipped from his eye, falling into the fire momentarily before he snatched it out.

Not the best design in retrospect...

The blonde stalked over. He paused directly in front on Leo, staring him down.

"You're not allowed to use dangerous quirks in public spaces."

"Quirks?" Surprisingly the interpreter didn't have an issue with the strange use of the word.

"Yeah, setting things on fire is illegal you know."

"Ah, so a quirk.. is.. setting fire to things?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean look what I can do."The teen raised his arm, palm up. Across the skin, streaks of fiery light crackled and sparked, sending up wisps of smoke into the cold air.

"And Icy-hot, you do your thing too."

"No thank you, Bakugou..."

"Whatever. Your quirk's not worth looking at."

The same green-haired 40 or so year old who had left the studio earlier passed by the street again, catching Leo's eye. Leo was about to look back to the pair of teens in front of him, when the man sneezed unexpectedly, shooting an impressive plume of fire and smoke. The man wiped his nose and continued onward, his face and throat glowing gold for a moment until he passed around the corner out of sight.

So everyone here has fire powers, that's weird.

"Excuse us, we should have introduced ourselves. I'm Todoroki Shouto and this menace is Bakugou Katsuki. Also, you should really put that out before some law enforcement comes around."

"I'm Leo Valdez. I just set this up to keep warm, but if you want me to put it out so badly..." he trailed off, grinning, and extinguished the fire, pocketing the monocle in his tool belt.

"Ha! If you need warming up that much with your pathetic little flame, then spar with me and get roasted!"Leo grinned, standing and cracking his knuckles.he backtracked a couple of steps and bent his knees slightly into a fighting stances, fire licking at his fingers. "Well then, come at me, sparkler hands."

"Ex-fucking-cuse me?! Right, you're dead now, you shitty zip lighter!"From his position at the opposite end of the pathway, Bakugou launched forward, fist outstretched. Leo stood his ground, hands ablaze, in a sideways stance with knees bent and feet firmly planted to the concrete. Near simultaneously, each shot a blast of their power towards the other.

While Bakugou set off a secondary explosion to narrowly throw himself out of the way of the oncoming fireball, Leo was doused with a bath of snapping fire that nipped at his skin and was encompassed in thick dark smoke. He heard Todoroki's voice from the leftmost smoky silhouette.

"Look what you've done now Bakugou. You've blasted a poor man into the ether."

"If that matchstick snapped with just that, then he really wasn't worth my time anyway."

"And you totally forgot the disciplining you did literally five minutes ago. What was that 'you can't use quirks in public' business you said...?""I have my hero license so I can do whatever I want.""It's provisional... and I don't see any villains Bakugou.""Shut your fucking face, half-and-half.""Really you've only been trouble this morning. I could've just had my run in peace without you tagging along but you just had to ruin that.""I told you to shut your mouth."

Leo stepped forward from the smoke, grinning.He put his hands on his hips, face somehow even more soot-stained than before and dust still swirling high behind him. Bakugou turned towards him and grinned too.

"Hah! You're not as weak as you look, fucking zippo. Ready for round two?"

A lone figure limped through the empty streets nearing the park square, shoulders hunched. It spoke in low murmur.

"Huh? I sense three signatures just this way. And they seems powerful too. Not as powerful as you darling but perhaps they'll put up a fight before we let them go to the other side."

The shape paused for a moment, twitching slightly, then turned and shuffled onward.

In the midst of the student's arguing, Leo heard the stilted rhythm of footsteps approaching in a crescendo. He turned from the pair and stepped away from them, peering into the still settling dust.A distinctly human shape stepped forward as the pair behind Leo also followed his gaze and quietened.

"Percy? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Leo called out as Percy continued moving towards them. Then, at the older boy's lack of response, he quirked up his eyebrow, noticing his limp and slightly glazed look.

"You don't look too great man. Have you been getting anything to eat and drink? It's been a couple weeks." He called again, subtly shuffling backwards and into a slight crouch, one hand on his belt. Todoroki sent him a strange glance before elbowing Bakugou and settling into a similar stance. The figure lifted his right hand, palm towards the trio.

On the rightmost outskirts of the plaza a woman's quiet singing in her shower room was abruptly cut off by a resounding screech of tearing metal as the building's waterworks were ripped away from the foundations. The same voice let out an indignant yell as the pipe burst, spraying a torrent onto the ground, and a pale pink stream of smoke drifted down the outside wall of the courtyard from the room's small window. With a vague motion of Percy's hand, the water began to peel off the pathway and drifted towards his body, collecting in a shapeless mass behind him. Todoroki started.

"Isn't that...?" he trailed off. Bakugou butt in,

"Hey! That's Cyclone, isn't it?"

"You should back down Bakugou."

"Retreat?! I'm didn't get my license for nothing."

"It's provisional, Bakugou." Ignoring Todoroki, he blasted towards Cyclone.

"Come at me, you villain motherfucker!" Immediately the water behind Percy shifted, swirling upwards and forwards, encompassing Bakugou. His speed slowed to almost zero but he managed to land a blow against Percy's chest large enough the push the both of them apart. Bakugou landed in a crouch near the other two, while Percy had been knocked toward the bench.

"I dare say you look a little wet there."

"No shit, princess."

"And your quirk won't work diluted like that."

"Fuck off." Shouto sighed and put a hand on Bakugou's exposed shoulder.

"I'll assist you if you're not going to ask for it."

Starting from the shoulder and spreading across

Bakugou's chest and arms, the water sizzled from the skin, leaving it pink, warm and dry.

"If I've got it, might as well use it."

"Fuck yes. Now you stand back there dyson and dry me when I come to you."

He leapt forward and Shouto huffed again, rolling his eyes.

"Knock yourself out Katsuki."

Bakugou quickly formed a tight cycle of attack and retreat. He leapt in, landed a blow and stepped out to be dried. Sometimes he'd strike an effective hit on a weak leg or rib but mostly he we tossed around in the villain's erratic wave motion.

Nearly a dozen dries later and no sign of either side deteriorating, Todoroki grew impatient. As Bakugou turned once more to Todoroki for his quirk, the student shook his head, staring down his slender nose at the explosive teen.

"You're not doing anything more to him Bakugou. We're going back to the school and getting a pro hero."

"Come on, one more and I'll crack him."

"No."

"How about you flip lighter?"

"What about me?" He asked back, warily eyeing Percy's steadily approaching form, undeterred by the hero-in-training's attacks.

"You warm me up. At least get my arms."

"Your arms?"

"Yeah fuckwit. My sweat makes my hand explode. You think they come from nowhere?"

"Well-"

"Just do it."

"I bet you make an explosive impression on first dates."

Bakugou shot a glare at Leo's lopsided grin. He licked his lips nervous and wrapped his hands around bakugou's wrists.

"I don't think-"

"Fucking do it, zippo."

Leo concentrated for a moment and it seemed to work, water hissing into steam from bakugou's skin. Then, the student suddenly wrenched his arms out of Leo's grip. Two angry red handprints bloomed above bakugou's wrists.

"Son of a bitch!"

"I-"

"What the fuck ever. Let's-"

Leo flinched back as suddenly a white wall shot between them and his side was doused with freezing water.

An ice barrier had suddenly been erected to Leo's left, the side facing the villain but water (rapidly cooled by the ice) from the almost unnoticed attack still made its way around the frigid wall to soak the pair.

"Let's go. We can find a better place to fight where we won't tear up an entire public space."

Todoroki's creation was slowly thinning and forming pale cracks as the trio dashed away. Ice fell away in chunks and swirled, dissolving into the water and Percy stepped through the makeshift barrier, running as fast as the villain could push his body to go.

"Do you never heed my warnings?"

Bakugou just blew air angrily through his lips and turned his head away.

"At least we're heading to UA now, there should be a hero we can hand over to." Bakugou's head whipped back around,

"Hand over to? We're just repositioning." Shouto ignored him.

"I think Midoriya mentioned Shinsou comes early to class." Leo raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"Shinsou?" He asked. Katsuki butt in again,

"A fucking extra. We could use him though. Keep Cyclone still while I beat on him."

"Has anyone told you that you're too violent Bakugou?"The makeshift trio continued dashing down the street, coming across a small river bank with no bridge in sight. After just a moment's hesitation, They slid down the grassy bank, two much more gracefully than the last. They pattered through the shallows, kicking up sludge that splattered each other backs, and scrambled up the opposite bank in their water-logged shoes. They continued through the residential district, when a tremendous crash resounded behind them and a glittering shadow fell across the street over them. Leo looked behind them - a large tendril of water towered overhead, glittering in the low sunrise. It was noticeably increasing in width and seemed to bend towards them in a menacing mockery of a bow.

He got Todoroki's attention, pointing frantically towards the threat, and the teen pulled the three of them to the right towards a small winding footpath. They began to weave between the streets, slowly gaining an increasing head start on the villain but not entirely losing the glittering shadow of the water that continued to nip at their heels.

Very quickly, they reached the academy, sliding to a stop just inside the gateway, heads swivelling and eyes searching.

"So, where is he?"

"I think I spotted him just going in."

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Cyclone will be here soon and I call first dibs."

"Honestly, I think you already hit him ten minutes ago. Dibs doesn't apply anymore." Leo chimed in.

They barrelled through the school's entrance way door and into the genkan, where Shinsou was just closing his shoe locker.

"Mindman come quick! We need your quirk!

"You need.. but I-"

"I said hurry brain blaster. Cyclone will be here any second!"Bakugou grasped Shinsou's wrist and spun on his heels, yanking the unusually uncomposed teen behind him.

"But my indoor shoes!-"

Shinsou was roughly dragged back to the front gate, stumbling forward off balance and heaving.

"If it's so important, why aren't you getting the teachers help you morons!" Leo answered him,

"I don't know. This one seemed to think you'd be good enough for the job." He gestured to Bakugou as they ran. "You must be pretty strong if you're gonna subdue Percy!"

"Subdue?"They barrelled back through the gateway, sending a few early morning students scattering to the sides of the pathway with confused looks.

"Leo! What are you doing?"

"Nico! I've been looking for you everywhere." Leo exclaimed as he whipped his head around and spotted Nico leaning against the entrance archway.

"And now where is this guy fucking off to?" Bakugou puffed. Nico sent a small distracted wave at the rest of the group then faced Leo.

"I've been looking for Percy and you. I hope you haven't been going too hungry." He turned to the UA students, addressing them. "Have any of you seen Midoriya?"

"Deku?!"

Nico winced and Leo heard the low whine from the Interpreter which Nico has somehow gotten.

"Okay fine, have you seen Deku?"

"He's in the dorms. If you haven't organised a meetup then he won't come out to the gate, you'll have to meet him inside." Shinsou reluctantly explained, gesturing vaguely towards a block of buildings located to the far right of the school.

"I see."

Nico hummed as he leant on the gate and Bakugou scowled at him.

"You can go in. The barrier's been reconfigured since that shitty hero Di Angelo climbed it. And that was all over the news - You been living under a rock?"

"I think that might be Di Angelo." Shinsou pointed out, deadpan. Bakugou scrunched up his face and visciously flicked sweat off his forehead onto the pavement where it sizzled and left pockmarks in the concrete.

"Just because it is him, doesn't make him any less shitty. I'm not gonna be polite to someone half my size." Nico crossed his arms and glared but ultimately didn't answer, turning back to Leo.

"My original question still stands, what are you doing?" The question brought Leo back to attention.

"Oh yes! I found Percy but something's wrong."

"Cyclone.. I'd heard on the.. news, but I didn't really believe he'd be running rampant."

"He's not exactly himself Nico, someone or something's got a hold of him."

"Well, I can tell that. He isn't exactly the murderous type, Leo. At least, not for no reason. You should know that."The group was still mulling at the front gate when a moment later, a swift current of water swept under their feet, toppling the unprepared Shinsou. As he stood back up, wringing streams of water out his hair, they turned to the source of the torrent.

Succeeding the wave, the villain appeared. Percy Jackson approached the group, water swirling around his body. The wave ebbed, bringing all the additional water in the surroundings, locked in the drains and sprinklers, with it.

Dripping wet and shivering in the early morning breeze, Shinsou stared at the approaching villain.

"Isn't that...?"

"Yep."

"You weren't lying, huh. I didn't realise you meant it when you said 'Cyclone'."

The group - Nico, Leo, Bakugou, Todoroki and Shinsou - arranged themselves in a wall in front of the school's gate.The pair of hero students stepped forward from their position, buttresses of the group. The villain's hand lifted and swept forward, bringing a cascade with it. Used to the villain's timing at this point, Bakugou blasted high into the air but the wave hit Todoroki with a hammer's blow, sending him skidding backwards on the slick pavement. The water sizzled off his skin as he re-positioned, his hair a mess of almost vertical ribbons of interlaced red and white.He cracked his knuckles loudly and a pale frost rose off one side.

"Ok Bakugou, lets get this done quickly."

"Don't be a burden this time half and half."

"I'm never a burden Katsuki."With a tight shared smile, together they dashed forward, one sailing through the air with the assistance of an explosive blast while the other coasted on the icy ground.

"You distract him while I surround him." Todoroki instructed his classmate, as he crouched in his motion, arms forward. "He can remove my ice with his quirk but there's only so much he can take. We need to surround him and trap him." Katsuki didn't change his path, so Todoroki took that as reluctant agreement.

Bakugou reached Percy first, immediately engaging with the same hit and re-hit tactic but at a greater speed, dancing out of reach to remain dry and in use of his quirk. Todoroki swept his hand up and a glacier formed in the front of the villain. His hand swept across his body as he glided around the villain's left side, the glacier building along as he went. He pivoted, sliding on the edge of his trainers as he shifted direction, continuing to drift past the villain, surrounding the Percy and Bakugou both with ice.As the circular barrier concluded he yelled,

"Bakugou! Out!"His hand flew high above his hand pointed at the open top, shooting out a final blast. It encompassed the top just as bakugou sailed out the opening, sailing on a gust formed from his blasts. Something heavy collided with the inside of the structure but it only shook and held firm.

In the middle of the gateway, an ice dome stood. Frost drifted from its surface, curling out over the ground. Todoroki slid to a stop and Bakugou followed. The hero-in-training turned to Nico,

"If he's smart he won't try to melt the ice and overfill the dome with water. Your friend might be in danger if he did."

"Percy can breath underwater but I don't know if the villain would have tested that."

"Let's hope not." Leo agreed.

"Either way, it should hold until adult assistance comes."Bakugou huffed once, arms crossed.

"You didn't give me enough chance to knock him out. He wouldn't be any trouble then."

"I think if he isn't out already, then we probably can't knock him out Bakugou."A loud crack resounded in the courtyard. A crunch and loud scraping noise followed. At the base of the makeshift enclosure, a crack formed, stray fragments of ice spraying from it into the street. Following it, a glowing bronze blade erupted from the inside, sliding in a vague arc until it reached the base again. It toppled forward toward the group, shattering on the pavement.Percy lowered his leg from his position inside the ice. The demigod could be seen shaking from across the street but was clearly active as he stepped clear of the dome and out into the open air. It began to buckle behind him as its smooth structure disintegrated into its liquid form and pooled out of the exit.

"He has a sword?!"

"I had almost forgotten." Nico looked up at the dark but steadily brightening sky. I should still be able to do this.He disappeared from sight, reappearing own sword unsheathed in front of Percy. It flickered upwards, slicing through the older demigod's shirt as the villain leaned backwards to avoid the blade. Nico leapt up again. Mid-stride he shadow-travelled again, materialising behind the villain. He brought down his broad sword's flat side in a swift disabling blow on the unbalanced villain when the full force of Percy's power collided with his side. The impact of all the water melted from the ice launched him away from the scene like a cannonball. He lost his grip on his sword and it was sent skittering out of sight. Tumbling through the air, Nico collided with the ground, bringing a grunt of pain as his chest contacted the floor.He scrambled upright, swaying on his feet and spotted his sword idly spinning on its hilt stone near the student group. He dashed over, noticing the purple haired student picking up the blade as he did so. Nico reached with one hand to take it from him. Shinsou gingerly handed it over, elbow sagging from the weight as he held it and a confused look on his face as he eyed Nico. Grasping the edge of his jacket, still vaguely dry on the innermost layer, Nico gently ran the fabric along the broadside of the blade, flicking off the excess moisture and resheathed it.Todoroki looked over at Nico as well, shaking his head slightly.

"You won't be able to get behind him again like that."

"I can see that, but let me try something else first. Can't give up just yet."

He concentrated, keeping his eye on the villain, staring hard at the ground beneath the water that surrounded the villain. A long moment passed, Percy's body steadily approaching. Nico could feel Bakugou's impatience from just out of view. Cracks ran through the pavement, dust and dirt steadily seeping upwards. The concrete buckled and the material lifted into the air. It swirled sluggishly into the water, causing it to almost sag with the weight and it turned the liquid into viscous mud, mostly slowly upwards into the mass.The villain noticed the discrepancy almost immediately as the bottom of the ball failed to follow his command. Deflecting a strike from Leo, sending said demigod careening backwards, he pivoted on on heel to face his water weapon. He paused a moment then splayed his fingers - the sphere dissolved into ten uneven blobs, forming a vague ring but remaining separated. The bottom three, choked with mud, dropped almost instantaneously, leaving seven balls suspended high behind behind Percy.Nico tried directing his power to bring the soil upwards and into the separate water globe, but with a movement of the villain's fingers they jiggled and evaded all of Nico's attempts to contact them.Nico dropped his control of the ground, standing, and in that moment, the villain lifted three fingers towards him, three lances of water following the line of Percy's hand speared towards Nico.

Nico began to raise his hand in defence but the blast of water were faster, striking Nico's face in successive blows that left his upper body soaked and skin coated in a stringing fire from the force.A strange un-Percy-like smile stretched across Percy's face as the villain lowered his arm, forming a swooshing motion towards himself as he did so. Nico felt his body shift forward against his own volition with a pushing force that blanketed his back and legs. The force grew and his wet hair and clothes drifted away from their normal position, as if pulled by an invisible hand towards the villain. The ghost king kept sliding forward, some droplets flying off his slick skin and into the water ball forming behind the villain. Percy's controller shifted, lifting his sword to match Nico's angle of approach.Nico himself, began to reach for his own sword when a blast of fire, originating from the corner of his eye and blazing towards the villain at speed, swept past his right side. Moments later, a tremendous hiss and clouds of steam as the villain defected the flame with a wall of water. Fully dry now and unattracted to the water absorbing 'black hole' the villain formed, Nico backtracked to the group, Todoroki following shortly after. Leo stared at Percy then at Nico.

"Holy hell, that guy really knows how to use Percy's power. Probably more creative with it than water boy is."

"Hear that Percy? You've got to step up your game." Leo joked. A small frown formed on Percy's face and Shinsou began speaking,

"If you had power this strong, how'd you get stuck with a villain in the first place?"

"What exactly do you-"

Percy was abruptly cut off as both his own puppeteer and Shinsou took control over his mind, stilling in place.

"Break free of his control."Sweat beaded on Shinsou's forehead as nothing continued to happen.

"Escape." Nothing." Come on, you can do it." Still nothing. Then Shinsou untensed with a frown.

"Nope, lost it." He sidestepped to where Bakugou, Nico and Todoroki crouched.

"That doesn't happen. He didn't have the normal breakout conditions so I shouldn't have lost control. Damn it."

"Weak ass bitch. First Deku in the festival but now a villain, when winning actually matters." He eyed Nico and gestured with his head towards Shinsou."Here's a kid who wants to be a hero too." He ended the sentence with a wumph as he leapt upwards, away from the pair and back into the fray alongside Leo. From his position, Todoroki sent another ice wall rocketing towards the villain which side-checked Bakugou roughly as it passed.

"Watch it peppermint bitch! Not a burden my ass!"Nico briefly patted Shinsou's shoulder with a tense look.

"Two controlling type quirks at once. Just a matter of experience or practice there I imagine. Don't fret it."Shinsou huffed and turned away when a loud yell could be heard behind them.

"What are you doing!?"

Those not immediately engaged with Percy turned to look as Midoriya Izuku dashed up to the small group of fighters.

"Oh wow! Todoroki! You look... great!"

"Thank you Midoriya but perhaps now is not the time to comment on my appearance, positively or otherwise."He gestured vaguely behind him to where bakugou was once again attempting to batter Percy while Leo fended off his sword strokes.

"Woah! Cyclone and the Swordsman are the same person!"

"Don't you dare start fanboying right now Midoriya." Shinsou said resignedly. "You need to come up with one of your plans."

"You can't get him under your control Shinsou?"

"Something weird is going on in there - the person you see is actually being controlled by someone else, the real villain. I tried to get him to break free but he's stuck fast, something pretty strong and painful is keeping him under." He turned to Nico.

"I'm not sure if the villain knows speaking was the cause of your friend's escape attempt in the there but we would need to get the villain to talk, not just your friend."

Leo sprawled on his back onto the ground next to the group and Todoroki stepped out of the conversation to take his place, sending out spears of ice.

"Disabling his water quirk? If the villain is controlling another's body then they shouldn't have the experience with the quirk that they do."

"The villain has been in contact with Perce for too long, he's too adept at using Percy's power at this point…"

"And his sword?"

"You won't be able to separate Percy and his sword."

"Not even-"

"You won't." Leo chipped in this time, nodding his head sagely in agreement. Izuku stroked his chin in thought.

"If we can't get rid of his quirk or sword, we'll have to work with Shinsou's quirk. Maybe we can trick the villain into speaking by doing something unexpectedly. Perhaps provoking him with something. Do you know the villain personally?" Nico raised an eyebrow. "We've got a voice activated mind control quirk here." Midoriya tried explaining gesturing with his hand to Shinsou but Nico shook his head smiling.

"I'm not prepared to diss a villain with 'yo mama' jokes Midoriya but I think I have an idea. Just scatter around and hit him whenever you see an opening. Keep him busy." As the group dispersed, crouching into ready positions around Percy, Nico pulled Leo forward and behind a nearby steel bin on the street corner.

"Leo. You're the gadget man. Got something?"

"I think I do. Someone distract him for a moment." He replied, raising his voice at the end towards the rest.

He noticed the purple-haired student they had picked up last moment turn back towards Percy and begin speaking again.Leo fished frantically around in his belt when his hand closed on a familiar chunky rectangular object. Eureka!

He yanked it out, turned the dial up to full with his thumb and tossed it in an arc towards Percy.Even from the distance away that he was from Percy, he could feel as his eyes vibrated and his vision turned into a haze of iridescent colours, immediately regretting his rash decision to dial the emitter up to full blast. In a few moments of loud shouting from those around him, Leo heard a crunch between them as Percy's controller forcibly crushed the device under his foot.

"Shit!" The villain bellowed, hands still over eyes and Nico shot Leo a glance, eyes wide.

"What the hell was that! Remind me never to go near your inventions or I'll get my face blown off."

"A frequency resonator. And perhaps I should have yelled fire in the hole."

"Not sure if that would have helped." Both of them shared a tight grin and turned back to see Percy's body totally still.

"You are going to let go and leave his body."

Nico realised that as the two of them had shared their exchange, the purple-head, Shinsou, behind him had taken the opportunity to use the villain's 'word' to finally take control over them and pull them out of Percy's body.

"Woah."

A dark dust like material was pouring out of Percy's skin, drifting downwards, pooling and swirling on the pavement, the dust lifting up and Percy fell sideways into a slumped seated position, as the material formed into a similarly placed but much smaller a sleeker form into opposite direction, the rest of the dark stuff meshing into a silhouette that seemed to border the villain and silently ebbed and flowed from him in tendrils like strange dark 'anti-solar' flares.

"Ah, a trap. My power failed me this time... You've got me heroes."

"Hey! Shut your fucking mouth and stay still!"

Bakugou yelled, appearing suddenly from behind and kicked the villain to the ground, standing heavily on his back.

"Shit! Treat me with a little respect!"

"Villains don't deserve any respect!

Nico shot Bakugou an unimpressed look.

"Back off a little bit, we still need to ask him questions. Anything we can learn will help the victims we have on hand and that's what heroes do, no?"

Bakugou shot Nico a fuming glare back but stepped off the villain's back, however keeping one foot on, forcing the adult into a permanent seated half-bow.

"Well then, What have you done to Percy?"

"Your friend? His ear should be alright but I can't guarantee that. As for the rest of his body, he'll recover from the strain of my quirk without any lasting effect eventually. Trauma might be a little more tricky." A lopsided smile found its way onto the villains face. Leo butt in,

"We mean what have you done using your power. What is it? Wobbly dark dust?"

"Dust, but it also forms long living shapes that I can extend, control and trap with. I don't know what they are, snakes I guess but to me, they're more like leeches - as dust myself in my targets bodies, I can feel and control and take energy through them. Anything biological that is, including your friend."

He turned to said friend and smirked tiredly.

"This one's got a lot of energy to take. He's powerful. Not a powerful quirk but something greater than anything this world has seen. A descendant of the great hero perhaps, a great and very very useful lineage. I'm afraid to admit he is stronger alone than I am, and if he's taken in what I've done with him, he's going to be stronger still. Lucky man."

"I know what he is, you don't have to be vague on my account." Nico snarked. "We are demigods too."

Despite his defeated situation, the legacy perked up,

"Legacies? I didn't think you'd be strong enough with your godly powers to realise, I guess your family must have been keeping track since it's surely your quirk I've been seeing and not your power. Which god are you from? Or maybe even two?" He ended, raising his eyebrow as he smiled slightly.

"No, I said we're demigods. Not legacies. I don't have a quirk."

The villain's expression distorted from one of apprehensive delight to a curious frown then finally settling on a disgusted sneer.

"Demigods? Impossible. You can't trick me with that, even with my power acting like this."

"Trick you? It's true. This one right here is a son of Hephaestus and the one you've been using as a puppet is a son of a Poseidon." He gestured to the two in turn. The legacy shook his head feverishly.

"It can't be. The gods haven't been in contact for ages."

"The gods haven't spoken? Where are They? What have the oracles said?"

"Nothing, They're just gone. I thought you would have known that. The Gods have been gone for nearly five hundred years. Five hundred years since this blasted quirk era that made me who I am, that destroyed our species and left the mist in shambles. They don't need you demigods any more, these heroes have nearly vaporised the monster's existence. And then without any children, They basically faded out of existence. I don't know how you're here but you have absolutely no right to be."

The demigod began to wail, voice rising as they crumpled forward onto the ground. Nico stared at him speechless.

"I could have been the most powerful of our kind alive, I'm an 8th generation legacy while there are even 20th generations around now. And I had a good quirk too, on top of my abilities, while they're mostly quirkless and powerless. Taking over someone strong I could have worked my way through this whole blasted bastard city. A strong legacy like me is above all these shitty nobodies but I've been defeated by a shitty time traveller who shouldn't even fucking be here. Damn it!"

The UA students turned away from the impromptu interrogation, a pair running towards the building, probably to get a member of faculty, while another, the purple-haired kid Shinsou, crouched near Percy and spoke to him gently. Leo cautiously stepped in as Nico continued to gape,

"Are there any other demigods?"

After a moment of shaking, the legacy on the pavement lifted his head to look at the pair.

"Demigods? I said there aren't any. And legacies? I only know a couple who can identify themselves as legacies. You won't find any around Japan if you're planning on asking around. There's loads but most won't know they have godly blood - you demigods meshed too well with the people with quirks after the gods disappeared. They might have powers like demigods. They might be legacies only in blood. Very diluted blood at that."From his low position, he gestured first to the student to his right and above him and then swept a hand towards the group standing behind the demigods.

"At least one of them will have godly blood. From the way you lot got around, I wouldn't be surprised if it were two."

"You're part of the 'you lot' too you know, asshole." Leo was surprised that it wasn't his voice answering but rather that of the gloomy demigod next to him.

"Oh, you're back to the land of the living."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nico growled and Leo leaned back, hands up in mock surrender.

"Ok ok it's chill man."

"I'm sure you'd be freaking out too if your fire blasted you 500 years into the future."

"Surely it can't be more than 400 - He's exaggerating! Plus, if you got here then there must be a way to get back, right? Right?"

"That's not the issue I'm worried about Leo. I can go back any time if I need."

"So you do know-"

"And most importantly, it's what happened to the demigods, the people we know. Did you even hear what the legacy said?"

"Yea it's been 400 years, barely more than 300 I bet, and the gods have disappeared."

"Stop trying to distract me with your jokes, Leo."

Bakugou butt into the trio's conversation, digging his heel into the Villain's back as he leant over him, drawing a yelp from the man on the asphalt,

"It's been 500 years, he's not wrong. You should know that, they teach that in grade school, or are you really that much of a dumbass, zip lighter?"

Leo passed him an awkward frown as Bakugou began to tell in the student group's direction, the sheepishly pitched down his voice to avoid any more over-hearing.

"Alright alright. So we've gone 500 years into the future and found out that the world we know has ended. That's ok, we can just go back and work on stopping it from happening - we're like three mini oracles." Leo glanced at Percy, who seemed to be calming under Shinsou's steady hand, and sighed, slumping in his stance.

"Like three oracles with half a prophecy," However, the son of Hephaestus perked up, continuing. "But the universe isn't deterministic and prophecies can be bent or even delayed to near infinity. We know that from first-hand, right?"

"Not all prophecies can be stopped, Leo. I know that from first-hand too." There was a long moment as Nico stared Leo down, air intangibly charged until it suddenly dissipated as Nico rubbed his eyes and sighed, casting a long glance at Percy as he did so.

He smiled tightly at Shinsou who barely tilted his head in acknowledgment, and crouched next to Percy, hands on his idol's shoulders.

"How are you doing Percy?"

"I'm... I don't know, really." He said quietly, staring slightly off into the middle distance. "The villain has really wrecked my ear though, I can hardly hear anything through it."

"We should get you back to Will and the rest of the Apollo cabin then, for that check-up, treatment and some medicated rest. Annabeth will be there to keep you in check and help you recover too, so you should be back to somewhat normal in no time." Nico reassured him and the other demigod bobbed his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess." Percy shrugged, focusing a bit as he let Nico haul him to his feet. "It'll be nice to see the other campers again. What has it been, three weeks?"

"I think it's getting onto twice that long now." Answered Leo, slipping under Percy's other side to support him.

A commotion to their left and the three shuffled around to see what was happening. The two students who had left previously were now re-approaching, a handful of adults in tow.

Shinsou stood up from his crouch and moved to stand near Izuku, coasting clear of Bakugou, then immediately regretted his decision when Midoriya lifted his arm and waved, brightly yelling,

"Mr Aizawa! Mr Cementoss! Over here!"

"And exactly what the hell is going on now? Two students come rushing up to me, yelling about a villain at the gate and I come here to find nothing."

"Sorry to confuse you Mr Aizawa, we finished that fight. We've already defeated Cyclone."

"Cyclone like the killer Cyclone? Not this again." Aizawa groaned at Midoriya's nod then turned to the trio, squinting suspiciously. "What are your names? And that is the villain, is it not?"

"Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez and Percy Jackson. Percy here was being controlled with a body control quirk by the real villain there, to commit the murders. That's the one you should be arresting."

Aizawa raised one tired eyebrow at the names given then turned to the man pinned on the ground. He abruptly sent out his tethers, encompassing the man and yanked him upright from under Bakugou's foot, nearing downing the blonde teen in the process.

"And your name villain?"

"Kamiyama Huri. 29 from Colusca city, Shizuoka prefecture." Aizawa rubbed his eyes and turned to the other teachers with him, speaking to them quietly.

"You'll be able to explain it to them?" Nico asked Midoriya with a side glance as the adults were occupied. When Izuku nodded, the demigod cautiously continued, a little louder.

"I'm sorry but we have to take our leave. We've got to get Percy to our doctors." He sketched a quick bow as best he could under Percy's weight and took in a breath in preparation.

"Oh no you don't."

Aizawa turned back and stared Nico down, his hair lifting like it was being pulled to heaven by a God's invisible strings. As Nico's back bolted straight up in fear and he grasped firmly onto Leo's forearm from behind, the teacher dashed forward, hand and tethers only grasping at where the demigod had been standing moments before. Eraserhead briefly scanned his surroundings for sight of their presence or anyone observing before sighing and turning back to the battered villain wrapped in the rest of his gear.

"Right, 'Quirkless King'."

The three fell back into the Hades cabin, the two oldest demigods slumping onto the bed in exhaustion. Nico sat lightly on the stool set near the bathroom door huffing slightly.Leo turned his face to Nico, his cheek squished into the hard mattress.

"I've only thought of this now but how much time would have passed here while we were gone?" Nico sat up straighter, eyes suddenly wide.

"It depends really. The first time I tried, the full period I spent there had passed here, but after that, it sometimes brought me back to barely a moment after I left."

"Let's hope it's the second one. I sure wouldn't want to miss the party. I'd been building that party popper for at least half a day and I want to put it to use." Percy let out a long breath and heaved himself up, rolling his shoulders and turning to the others.

"I guess we'd better take a look."They stepped out the cabin - Percy mostly recovered but still leaning somewhat on Nico - door clicking heavily behind them. The air was stiff and heavy, a pattering of rain quickly dampening their skin and clothes.

"Well, we've been away long enough for it to start raining. It's still dark though, maybe everyone packed it in for the night?"The trod up the pathway, approaching the Hephaestus cabin. Leo spotted his contraption and dashed forward hefting it up from the slowly pooling mud and checking it over quickly.

"Looks like it still works!"

"Let's check in your cabin and see if people are in bed. It'll be too late to set off your thing if the party's done." Nico pointed out, subtly shifting from foot to foot in nervousness.

"Well, even if they're in bed I can wake them up with it and throw an after party!" Said Leo grinning widely. He turned to the door, shouldering it open and turning into the entrance way. He paused and Percy peered in after him.It was empty. Bedsheets unfurled, scraps of material littering the workstations and the floor, and a mysterious pale sheen of white glowing on every surface.

"It's messier than I remember. Everyone must still be at the campfire. Let's go." Leo spoke. They pulled out of the doorway and the trio walked onwards, pace quickening as they approached, in a near sprint at the end as they continued to hear only silence from the camp.

The campfire was deserted, the grass faintly yellowed and not even a wisp of smoke rose from the clumpy ash that was all that was left of the fire. The trio stood in a line, heads swivelling slowly as they scanned the area. The wind picked up, flinging dust from the benches into Nico's eyes as he squinted at the scene.

Leo had moved to set down his invention when the contraption fired, toppling forwards. The colourful tissue drifted and swirled around the small group in the strong wind, quickly forming multicoloured clumps of sludge at their muddy, sodden feet.

"Surprise...?"


	3. Wireless Windup (Bonus Story)

Predetermined (the final story of the trio) will be multi-chaptered as so will be published in a new story. Please enjoy this extra side story, which is set during the time skip of 'Wanted: Cyclone'.

Nico fidgeted in the sofa-chair that he sat in, tucked into the corner of the studio's recording booth, as he listened to the quiet clicks of the producer's mouse on their work screen and the loudspeakers blasting the near-yells of the loud radio presenter above his head.  
Nico doesn't know what possessed him to agree to this.

A few days of aimlessly wandering searching for Percy and Leo perhaps? That is what he had been doing when he encountered the kind-looking female producer a few days previously after a week of fruitless work. Miss Taketora, as she'd told him to call her, had pretty much coerced Nico into a radio interview after she had bought him an orange juice at a nearby cafe.

Through the closed wooden door, he heard two pairs of footfalls and muffled voices.  
Soon after, a young man, possibly an intern, walked in sipping a coffee and handing a second to Miss Taketora, which she took gratefully.

"How was Mount Lady?"

"She's a bit intimidating but I managed to lead her to the right studio without getting lost, so I guess that's a plus."

The assistant looked up to where Nico was watching and his eyes widened with a star-gazed look.  
"Oh! Mr di Angelo! Forgive my rudeness, I'm Kaito, Miss Taketora's assistant producer."

"No problem," Nico replied and turned to where Taketora had swivelled in her chair. "When am I going in?"

"Not too long now. You're live at 7 so you'd best go in five minutes before. Mic's running through the news segment and then you can go in while the ads run."

"And what do I have to do?"

"I ran through this already Di Angelo. Keep your head facing the microphone and don't fidget in your chair too much since it'll squeak or we'll pick up your rustling in the mic. Otherwise, relax; we'll give you pointers if you need them, so keep an eye on the window." Miss Taketora gestured to the glass as she said this. A warm smile spread across her face. "Honestly, if the host's any good, and Present Mic does have a lot of experience under his belt, they'd make you feel welcome and guide you through the questions. You've got nothing to worry about."

Nico didn't seem any less unsure so she fished into her bag and pulled out a small carton.  
"Would you like some orange juice?" Nico, ever impartial to the sweet drink, readily took it and began gulping it down, crushing the cardboard in his nervous grip.  
She pulled out any bottle and poured some water in a cup before exchanging it for the already crumpled empty carton.

"Wash it down with this. Wouldn't want you to get an embarrassing case of sticky mouth now, would we?"  
He took it from her and downed half the bottle, before closing it and placing it on the desk. A few moments passed in as much silence as could be found in a workspace with a radio presenter blaring on the speakers.

Then Taketora's face perked up. She removed her headphones and stood up, followed closely by Kaito. She opened the door and smiled at Nico,  
"The ad break is on. It's time for you to go inside."

Body stiff, Nico tensely stepped out into the hallway then through the next door over to enter the recording room.

"Hi, there!" The radio presenter swung around in his swivel chair and stood, narrowly avoiding smacking the armrest into his microphone. "I'm Yamada Hisashi but I ask that you call me Present Mic."

"I'm Nico Di Angelo, nice to meet you, Mike."

"I've been excited to talk to you, Di Angelo! Thank you for giving up your time, I'm sure you've been very busy."

The already booming speakers in the side room must have been turned down quite a bit because it didn't prepare him for the sheer volume that the man produced. Other than destroying them with force, Nico wondered how many microphones the presenter had blown out just from the noise.

"Of course you have," he said at Nico's silence, "get yourself comfortable here and let's get prepped."

He gestured to the chair next to Nico and himself sat back down in his own swivel chair. He swung it back, once again nearly obliterating his hanging microphone and read over something on the nearby monitor as Nico gingerly lowered himself. From the corner of his eye, he could spot the reflection of Taketora's monitor on her glasses and Kaito's discrete thumbs up through the studio glass.

"There are a few topics I'd like to talk with you about today." Mic began. He looked to Nico who gave him a brief nod back in acknowledgement. "Your hero work mainly, of course. There's also a new historically set video game recently released based on you, which I'd like to touch on. Then, I guess, we can roll from there."

"Sure," Nico replied simply, too tightly wound up to truly concentrate on the words, and Mic smiled reassuringly.

"There's really nothing to worry about. We're on in just a mo. Put your headphones on and let's get this show on the road!"  
With a thumbs up and a silent countdown, Mic began.

"Welcome to all my lovely listeners who are tuning in now on this fine evening! We've got something special lined up tonight. An interview with Mr Di Angelo, more commonly known by his popular nickname, the Quirkless King!"

"Thank you for having me, Mike," Nico replied stiffly.

"You're the publicly proclaimed hero with a shocking debut. Mysterious and handsome, you've really captured the people's eye these past few months. What do you have to say about that?"

"It was never my intention to become a hero, even one as popular as you say I am, but I appreciate it all the same."

"You've really built an impressive following. Not every hero takes part but if you signed up to participate, you might get into the top 100 on the rankings." Mic paused and Nico hummed his agreement. "Now, to start on a fun note! A few of the listeners might be aware of the new jrpg game released earlier this month by the indie developer Yatanokagami studio."  
"I bring this up 'cause, with your surge in popularity, the main character is named after you. Nick Angel!"

Nico spluttered out a startled laugh.

"Seriously?"

"Yep, he's also been modelled on your hero move set though of course with a couple of additions like the unlockable quirks of teleportation and monster summoning among others, which, of course, aren't your quirk. The story's historically based, in the era of ancient European warfare and the mythology of the period. What do you think?"

"I don't know what to say," Nico admitted with a short laugh, tension dissipating. "I'm flattered though. Mostly, I'm interested in how much attention went into researching the myths."

"Indeed! The project's head, Kagami, Fukusho announced that historical accuracy was the top goal for the game's development." Then a smirk stretched across Mic's face. "How about your own historical roots? I've heard there's something about your birth records."

"What about them?"

"You were found to have a matching record in the 1930s."

Nico waved it off dismissively,  
"A grandparent perhaps."

"Perhaps?"

Nico shrugged and leaned back into his chair with a squeak.  
The pause where he had shrugged on the radio was momentary but noticeable. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Taketora repetitively tapped her mouth with one hand and he sat up, mentally face-palming.

"Sorry. Not great at the radio thing. I am from Italy, so it must be a coincidence that I have a relative in the region with the same name as me. Did they bother checking any closer to a more reasonable date?"

"I don't know if they did and if they tried, they must not have found anything."

"What can I say?" Nico replies leaning back and shrugging. "If I were a time-traveller, I'm sure I'd notice."

"You're not wrong," Mic shot back a smile in his voice. "Onto the topic of your involvement in the Urokukichi incident. We talked about your debut but that is really the thing that's on everyone's minds. Any thoughts you'd like to share? You really gave us a spectacle with the UA barrier."

Nico took a brief moment to mull over his answer.  
"I'm grateful for the kind recognition I received from the Urokukichi family. I haven't had the chance to get in contact with them, but I'll make sure I do while I'm around, to give them thanks. As for the Barrier? That was just to get away from the attacking villains. I wouldn't do that in any other circumstances."

"Of course - I don't think I'd be able to climb the barrier either."

"I did manage to get some good back-up from some of the heroes and even some students from the academy to deal with the villain group, though."

"Yep, it was a good move to head for UA. And your quirk, might I ask what you call it?"

"I wouldn't be called the Quirkless King if I had a quirk now, would I?" Sensing a question, he continued, "I've seen so many different interesting quirks while just walking around. I, for one, am interested in yours."

Mic's face lit up, distracted from his original train of thought. From the corner of Nico's eye, he spotted the producer's assistant frantically signing a with his hand across his throat. At Nico's sly grin in his direction he sighed, facepalming, and looked Nico in the eye; he pointed at his watch and put up a single finger.

Indulge him for only one minute.

Nico zoned out momentarily as Present Mic got into his own quirk for the minute that Kaito allowed, before sending him a discrete thumbs up.

"Quirks as a whole are a really fascinating business, and I found out that some of the best are pro heroes that help people. You must be one right?"

"Yeah-"

At Kaito's, and now Taketora's, fiery looks, Nico quickly interrupted Present Mic.

"That's great, where I live there's no hero system like here's, the police deals with all the regular crime, so this seems pretty abnormal to me." He continued,  
"Anyway, the 'Quirkless King' reminds me of a name some people call me by, being the Ghost king, or more personally by my good friends like Percy, stuff like 'Death boy', which, I guess, shows exactly how good we are as friends." Present Mic's already large smile grew into a wide grin at his words.

"You might not know this but the listeners here would already recognize the ghost king as one of your nicknames online."

Nico raised one eyebrow looking at Present Mic's face.

"Perhaps your friend 'Percy' was the one who started that trend?" He suggested but Nico shook his head.

"Not possible, but I can see where the public could have got that nickname from."

"Not possible?"

"Like me, He doesn't live here, so he doesn't actually know anything about me being any form of hero, at least in this sense of the word. He, another friend and I are here on a trip right now from America."

"Oh? That sounds exciting! Any scoop on how that's going?"

"Not great at all." Nico laughed, a little less tense. "I lost both of them within the first hour. It's been a couple of weeks now and I haven't met up with them again yet."

"And not even a chance to see all the sights of Musutafu together! How tragic! Perhaps our wonderful listeners can help you out?"

"Possibly… I lost them along Hanagawa street about 3 weeks ago. They might still be around that area."

Mic nodded understandingly.  
"I hope your friends are safe out there, with some new villains like Cyclone on the rise.  
Nico froze."

"Cyclone..?"

"You haven't heard of him? If you listeners haven't heard yet either, he's a villain with a water quirk who uses a sword and has been active recently. I'll cover it on a later segment if you listeners ask for it."  
Nico felt he'd been dunked in an ice bath.

"No… I hadn't heard of him."  
Noticing Nico's concerned expression, Present Mic mentally back-pedalled, clapping Nico on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about your friends, heroes like us are always on patrol to look out for villains like him so no one needs to have any fear!"

"Of course. They're capable of holding their own." Replied Nico tersely and his chair squeaked slightly under his fidgeting hands.  
Mic's eyebrows pinched together but he continued with a flourish, undeterred,  
"What's your friend's quirk? Perhaps he could be identified that way."

Nico hesitated, mind whirring.  
"I'd say... a quirk for improved blade use."

"A weapon mastery quirk, huh? Weapon mastery quirks are pretty powerful if let loose. There are restrictions on emitter quirk use but there's equal regulation on weapon purchase so I guess we won't find him that way."

Nico nodded, making sure to hum quietly into the microphone. Mic continued,  
"I dare say there are not many weapons mastery heroes but there are loads with firearm and blade support weapons. Snipe, Scope, Psikni, Slinger - just to name a few popular heroes beginning with S. Scope, as far as I can remember, has a hand steadying quirk and Slinger's might be super joint flexibility. Psikni telekinetically controls blades and as for Snipe-"

"It sounds like you know a lot about heroes."

"A good hero should know other heroes quirks. Never know when you could be paired up with someone else on the fly."

Nico nodded,  
"Percy and I have fought together a lot. He's a master swordsman, he'd probably fit in that Nick Angel character you mention more than I could - I guess you could say he's into history, too. But yes, it would be cool if people could find him, but if he's by himself, he only speaks English, so I can't say he'd be very cooperative."

"Any clues to his appearance?"

"Tall, dark hair and green eyes, pretty muscly. He could be wearing anything by this point, so there's not much else I could add."

"And you said there was a second friend?"

"Yes, Leo. Rather short, messy brown hair and a bit grubby - knowing him, he's probably still got his tool belt and work kit on. He's got a fire quirk and is more likely to be able to speak Japanese than Percy, so he might be easier to find."

Present Mic quirked up an eyebrow.  
"That's interesting. Did he learn the language with you? You've got great pronunciation for a foreigner."

Nico furrowed his eyebrows in confusion for a second before he remembered the Interpreter, and began to laugh quietly.  
"No, no. I didn't learn the language." It was Mic's turn to look confused but Nico cut him off. "It's this little device." He tapped at his cheek where the interpreter was pinned. "It translates speech for me so I can understand and speak different languages."

"That's a cool bit of tech. I know there are hero support items for imitation and voice changing which is a pretty old system but that must be a new development. Do you sound any different without it on?"

Nico shrugged, then remembered the radio microphone,  
"I don't know, but I definitely wouldn't be speaking Japanese."

"Could you speak without it on?" Mic said, eyes bright. "Might be something fun for fans of the Quirkless king."

Nico flushed but reached for the device, anyway.  
"Sure, I can give it a try." The interpreter buzzed briefly and beeped once, then fell silent as he unhooked it from his ear. "But I'm not sure how well you'd be able to understand me."

Present Mic grinned widely and replied readily in somewhat accented English,  
"I teach English classes at UA so don't worry about my understanding."

Nico put the device back in and it rebooted. Present Mic returned to Japanese while the interpreter clicked and whirred,  
"That's certain to please some people," He started with a loud laugh. "I don't think anyone had any idea you weren't speaking from good practice. You definitely have a different voice than when using your gear."

"I had no idea," Nico replied, shrugging slightly. "Anyways, since he's incredibly handy, Leo has probably made a translator for himself and so he'd be able to talk if anyone approached him."

"Oh yes, your missing buddies. My heart goes out to you kid. I hope you find your friends and I'll send you any information I hear about them from the listeners." Mic leaned back in his chair checking the wall clock briefly. "Unfortunately for all the lovely listeners, our time with Mr Quirkless King is nearly up. Be sure keep an eye out and we hope to have him back on the show soon!"

"Thank you for inviting me". Nico answered back, stiffly bowing his head towards the microphone.

Hizashi sent him a joyful grin and Nico could help to smile back in return.

—

officialpresmic  
How did you find today's talk with the #qrklssking? We hope to have Di Angelo back sometime and keep your eyes open to help him out!

fieonrey  
Nico sounds like a sweet enough kid. I'm certain he does have a quirk but that's whatever Good luck with finding your buddies! #qrklssking

shophiee  
Leo sounds like the shifty English speaking guy who's been hanging around my neighbourhood. Darufu area. #qrklssking

ghosteij  
shophiee I think I saw him in the supermarket in that area the other day. Jato district. He's rly short and wears the same ear piercings as Nico does if that helps #qrklssking

littlerocketship  
Asfdjfk he sounds so cute lmao With the prewar theory going around I thought he might sound super old but he kinda sounds girly

ethan  
littlerocketship I think that's the translating tech he talked about. Think he might have got it from UA? ibrokeanotherbone and their support dept were crazy at the sports festival

[ ] Urokukutie79 [ ]

Hey there! News of the Quirkless King's missing travel partners has blown up recently with the retweeting and reblogging of Present Mic's message by a few top twenty heroes after the original interview a couple of weeks ago.  
All my wishes go out to him and to his friends. It's dangerous out there with villains about, in a new place especially, and with hero killer legacies like Cyclone coming up now. I know that all too well, unfortunately.

#quirklessking #heroes #hero #diangelo #ghostking #findpercy #findleo #cyclone


End file.
